In the last five years, we've gone from "employees will never have to go into an office" to "employees need to be in the office because creative and innovative work can only be done face-to-face between humans" to "lol we don't need humans"

#AI

Instagram collects scary amounts of your data 🫣 Mastodon on the other hand - None! ✅

What do we learn? There are great services available that do not abuse your data.

#Cat #Cats #CatsOfMastodon

stole your meme without #AltTxt yadda yadda, the IRAN edition
https://mastodon.social/@grrlscientist/114742940500607192

starts with “IRAN ONCE HAD DEMOCRACY” and ends pleading we read David Talbot’s “The Devil’s Chessboard”, to learn how the Dulles weaponized the CIA for the gringoligarchy.

what the meme fails to mention: CIA exists thanks to a certain Prescott Bush who went into politics after caught as the banker to Nazis.

his son went on to be head of the CIA, then shadow POTUS after the Saudi-backed coup of 1979

Jeff Bezos is arriving for his wedding in Venice in a mega yacht and his guests are turning up in 95 private jets.

We're here avoiding food waste in our kitchens. 😑

“Morning, Stan.”
“Hey, Artie.”
“I like the new roof thingy.”
“It’s called a 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘰𝘭𝘢.”
“Oooh… pardon moi.”

You don’t “earn” a billion dollars. You extract it—from workers, from the planet, from communities. There is no ethical billionaire.

Let that be your battlefield.

I am trying not to be dramatic here, but this is a deal-breaker for me - literally. I changed dentists because I wouldn't sign binding arbitration. I changed solar installers because I wouldn't sign binding arbitration.

I could never, in good conscience, recommend that someone use a service that required binding arbitration as a condition of use - which means that as of July 1, I would no longer be able to recommend that people get an account on mastodon.social.

Have you heard something confusing about Matrix going "freemium"? Here is a blog post overviewing the project-politics moves behind that:

https://paper.wf/alexia/matrix-is-cooked

I'm not sure I'm gonna draw conclusions as negative as the blogger did, but this is something to watch with caution. I don't know what to do if Matrix/Element gets any worse than it already is. The Matrix replacements suggested in that post do not, on their homesites, mention end-to-end encryption so to me aren't replacements.

In a letter to Microsoft CEO Nadella, Rep Lynch -acting ranking mem of the CMTE on OV & Govt Reform, cites rpting from NPR/WB disclosure re DOGE's activities in his request for records "as part of CMTE Dems' ongoing work to prevent the THEFT OF #DATA for private purposes."

"The WB: indivs [aff w #DOGE] have attempted to conceal their activities, obstruct OV, & shield themselves from ACT incl by DELETING SYSTEM LOGS & OPENING BACK DOORS INTO THE NLRB CASE MGT SY.."
#USPol https://www.npr.org/2025/06/16/nx-s1-5435330/congress-doge-nlrb-whistleblower-github

Use Signal. We promise, no AI clutter, and no surveillance ads, whatever the rest of the industry does. <3

Canadians said no to #Trump – so why is PM Mark Carney pushing a Maga-inspired border bill? | Erica Ifill

#cdnpoli #canada

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/13/canada-border-bill-surveillance-mark-carney-donald-trump

Because a calculator is a device made for a specific purpose, our trust in it would be immediately corrupted if it were to give an incorrect answer. It would be useless.

If you take away the specific purpose you also take away the criteria to determine if something works or not.

US video has always been wildly subsidized (both by advertising and by people who paid for stuff they never actually used) and it's interesting to see how things shake out when all those payment streams wither and die.

American Oligarchs could be brought to their knees if everyone: a) Stopping using Facebook b) Stopped using X c) Stopped shopping on Amazon. d) Stopped using Google. Yeah, I'm not holding by breath.

Apparently, if you have facebook or Instagram installed on your phone, #Meta was able to track your browsing habits and link them to your real identity even if you never logged in on the web, used incognito mode or a VPN. I hope Meta gets hit with every fine in the book.

https://www.zeropartydata.es/p/localhost-tracking-explained-it-could

#NoKings #Protest #Solidarity #Immigrants #MassDeportation #EndICE #StopICE #Project2025 #Trump #MAGA #ThisIsFascism #ThisIsWhatYouVotedFor #ElectionsHaveConsequences #TrumpParade #SaveDemocracy #USConstitution #DueProcess #FirstAid #JustFollowingOrders #NationalGuard #OathToDefendTheConstitution